For sloping the faces of teeth of gears, a continuous method is known (German AS No. 1 048 762), in which a so-called single-tooth cutter is used, whereby the single-tooth cutter performs a continuous rotary movement and during successive rotations works on successive workpiece teeth at least one sloped surface.
After each workpiece rotation, the cutter teeth and the workpiece teeth approach one another and subsequently each tooth is again worked in the aforedescribed manner. Feeding and subsequent working are repeated until the desired sloped shape is achieved.
It is disadvantageous for only single-tooth cutters to be used, because the entire machining process is to be performed by only one edge, which according to their nature do not have a long edge life. Cutters with two or more teeth are not usable, since otherwise the workpiece movement, which can be performed only when the cutter is not on the workpiece, would be impossible. The cutters thus must be changed often, which is always associated with a period of inoperativeness of the machine. A premature failure of the edge, for example if a portion of the edge breaks off, results in insufficiently machined workpieces, which has particularly bothersome consequences in the case of interlinked machines, wherein the workpieces after the sloping process has been completed are fed to different working machines.
Therefore, the basic purpose of the invention is to provide a novel single-tooth cutter construction having a longer edge life.
The inventive purposes are attained by providing a single-tooth cutter enabling, in the instance where a section of the sloped surface which remains unworked due to a damaged first edge, is worked by the second or next-following further edge. Still more advantageous is the provision of a single-tooth cutter comprised of plural individual plates, because a rough finishing effect is achievable as is specially high machining quality, whereby the risk of an edge of a cutter breaking off at a second and possibly the next-following cutting edge is extremely small because of the very low machining volume which they must accomplish. Therefore, a substantial extension of the edge life can be achieved with the single-tooth cutters embodying the invention.